Karnataka - Bangalore

Google announces Gram Panchayat Puraskar

Bangalore: Google.org, the philanthropic arm of Google, has announced the Gram Panchayat Puraskar.

The award, instituted under the “Inform and Empower Initiative” of Google.org, will recognise the best innovations in local governance by five gram panchayats each in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.

Salimah Samji, Programme Manager, Google.org, told The Hindu here on Thursday that this initiative was the first of its kind by Google in India and provided panchayats an opportunity to showcase their innovative work in villages, and emerge as the star innovators of their respective States. “Quality of public services is vital for the well-being of society. By awarding the gram panchayats and recognising the good work, we hope to trigger positive change and inspire other gram panchayats to take up initiatives,” she said.

The competition will cover over 27,000 villages and 49 districts in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.

Gram panchayats will be evaluated on the basis of various criteria, including empowerment, innovation and scale.

The innovation needs to be in the context of education, health and nutrition, water supply, rural infrastructure, rural electrification or resource mobilisation.

Ms. Samji said that gram panchayats would have to demonstrate inclusion of all social and income groups in the village decision-making or planning, sharing information with villagers, record maintenance and panchayat plan, community tracking and monitoring of budgets and quality of programmes and working with other programmes to reach development objectives.

“Panchayats create positive change at the grassroots, but their success stories are not known. For example, in Kerala, a panchayat ensured that the entire village was literate; in Thar district of Rajasthan, a panchayat converted the area into a tourist destination, thereby increasing income. We want to celebrate innovative panchayats and create incentives to further innovation in local governance throughout the country.”

The competition will be on till January 25, with one entry form per gram panchayat being accepted. It should be in any one of the four languages — Kannada, Telugu, Hindi or English.

All legally recognised gram panchayats in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh are eligible to apply. A panel of public sector experts will select 20 finalists from each State.

A separate panel will select the five winners in each of the States, who will receive Rs. 5 lakh. Details are available at the district and block panchayat offices and in panchayat magazines and newsletters.

For details, visit www.google.org/ggpp.html.

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